Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to methods and devices for heating or cooling viscous materials and particularly to methods and devices for producing food products from meat emulsions.
Description of Related Art
Methods for producing meat emulsions and foods from such emulsions using conventional concentric tube heat exchangers are known in the food industry. Meat emulsions are widely used in the production of products such as bolognas, frankfurters, sausages, animal foods, and the like. To reduce the cost of certain food products to consumers, there has been a demand, in recent years, for meat emulsion products that resemble chunks or pieces of natural meat in appearance, texture, and physical structure, i.e., meat analogs. Such products are used as a partial or complete replacement for more expensive natural meat chunks in food products such as stews, pot pies, casseroles, canned foods, and pet food products.
Conventional concentric tube type heat exchangers, used to cool or heat vicious and/or fibrous materials, have designs that partially obstruct the flow of product through the heat exchanger. This obstruction may change the property of the materials, cause equipment clogging and reduce output. Previous solutions have involved using long tubes and/or modifying the design of tube type. Such modifications have included multiple concentric tubes that increase surface contact, typically to ensure cooling/heating on both sides of the product. Nevertheless, increasing tube length and/or diameter of a concentric tube heat exchanger increases the complexity of the design while reducing process flexibility.
Conventional plate heat exchangers have similar issues as the concentric tube heat exchanger in that the product must flow through a tortuous path causing obstructions in the material product as it moves from plate to plate. Moreover, existing heat exchanger designs have limitations regarding pressure rating, uniform product flow, expandability and flexibility.